


mistletoe.

by niamhies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Could Be Canon, Missing Scene, Seamus is Gay, but we already knew that, pre-hinny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 15:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niamhies/pseuds/niamhies
Summary: The Christmas decorations have been put up at Hogwarts, and Harry's doing all he can to avoid being caught under the mistletoe with any of his fellow students. But when have things ever gone accordingly for Harry Potter?
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Harry Potter
Kudos: 5





	mistletoe.

Harry rounded the corner to the seventh-floor staircase, his head ducked down in an attempt to shield himself from passing students. 

All day he’d been doing this, along with taking more secluded passageways to his lessons, so that the giggling hoard of fourth year girls – lead by none other than Romilda Vane - wouldn’t be able to spot him. 

Overnight, Hogwarts had been adorned head to toe in Christmas decorations, Muggle and magical alike. And there was no shortage of mistletoe this year, which Harry had been hoping would finally have been exempt from being hung up this time around, especially after the fiasco of last year involving a certain Cho Chang. 

It hadn’t taken long for him to realise it was present in the castles, with students left, right, and centre becoming stuck underneath it, unable to move until someone joined them and kissed them free. So, with Harry’s newfound popularity amongst younger witches at Hogwarts, he had found himself with a sore neck as he constantly looked up to spot any secretive mistletoe near him, so that he could dodge it and with it, the more than eager witches who seemed to follow him wherever he went.

“Anyone would’ve thought you were the last man on earth,” said Hermione hotly as they fast-walked down the seventh-floor staircase, making their way to lunch. She gave a dirty look to a fifth year Hufflepuff who had not so discreetly been tailing after them for the last five minutes. “I think I’ll be having a word with Hagrid if they don’t get their act together. There’s no doubt he’s at fault for this.”

“Don’t they think it’s a bit weird?” asked Harry desperately as he dragged Hermione down a vacant hallway which had yet to be decorated. “I mean, some of them are like four years younger than me. And can’t they tell it makes me uncomfortable?” 

Hermione shot him a sympathetic look. “They won’t see it like that – girls usually like older guys. But I’ll definitely be bringing this up at the next Prefect’s meeting. Ridiculous, it is.”

“Tell me about it,” Harry muttered, and a frustrated groan left his lips as they reached another staircase which led to the fifth floor and Harry could clearly see a mass of students stood underneath sprigs of mistletoe, lips locked both enthusiastically and reluctantly. 

“Come on,” Hermione urged, gripping Harry’s elbow and pulling him down the stairs. “If you get stuck, I can always kiss you on the cheek. Surely that counts, right?” 

Harry raised his eyebrows, thinking of Ron and how he would react if news spread of him and Hermione caught kissing under the mistletoe. Even if it was just an innocent peck on the cheek, he shuddered at the thought.

“Maybe,” he replied, a little uneasy. 

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Harry was immensely relieved to find that none of his usual fan club were dotted around the hallway, waiting for him to lose focus and accidently get stuck under the mistletoe’s charm.

“Hermione,” Harry started, remembering he was supposed to share a free period with Ron next. “D’you mind if I tag along with you next lesson? I could really do with some revising,” he told her, thinking that spending the next hour in the library with Hermione would be ten times better than third wheeling with a lovesick Ron and Lavender, who were both joint at the hip ever since Gryffindor's win. 

Hermione side eyed him sceptically. “You’re more than welcome to – but are you sure you’re not going to miss _Won-won_ and _Lav-Lav’s_ lovely public displays of affection?” she asked him, her voice laced with a nasty sarcasm. 

Harry glanced over at her, a hint of a smile of his lips. “They’re all right,” he tried to reason, but Hermione scoffed in disbelief. “Okay, okay! It is a bit much… But, if that’s what keeps Ron happy…” he trailed off, grimacing at the thought of his best friend. He loved Ron, really, but he could be incredibly thick sometimes. _And that’s coming from Harry._

“Hmph,” Hermione tightened her grip on the books she had pressed against her chest. “well, you’re more than welcome to join me – Ginny’ll be there, by the way.”

Harry’s mind blared at the words that came out of Hermione’s mouth and he almost came to a stop in his walking. His stomach lurched pleasantly at the thought of spending the next hour with Ginny, despite Hermione’s added presence, whilst he tried to keep his face impassive. 

“Really? That’s cool,” he said, shrugging, and the suspicious look Hermione gave him made him scorn himself for over-doing it. 

“I suppose it is, yes,” she said slowly, as though a thought had occurred to her and she was trying to make sense of it. “She has her OWLs this year, you know. Ginny’s very bright, and I’m sure she’ll pass them but, if Dean doesn’t stop distracting her from her studies, I’ll have to have a word with him. Honestly, he should know! He knows how tough fifth year is – Harry?”

Harry, who had been too enrapt in his thoughts of a particular risqué dream he had experience the other night which involved him and Ginny, found himself unable to move his feet. His eyes widened in horror as reality came crashing down on him and he looked up, where a small piece of mistletoe had been tucked away behind a ceiling beam was gleaming down on him. Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, and Harry was sure she was fighting back a giggle.

And then, as if on cue, Romilda Vane appeared at the end of the hallway with her friends pointing giddily at Harry. She locked eyes with him and began pushing past the busy crowd of students, hurrying to reach him before anyone else could. Harry rounded on Hermione, urging her to get it over with and she made her way for him but someone else reached him first. 

There was a loud roar of laughter and Harry peered over his shoulder to find Dean Thomas choking back tears of amusement as he and Ginny stood behind him.   
Ginny had her lips pressed together in a tight line, whether in annoyance or entertainment, Harry wasn’t sure. 

A sense of dread rose through Harry as he turned around to face his companion, suspecting the worst. But when his eyes met the pale one’s of none other than Seamus Finnegan, Harry relaxed greatly. 

Seamus was flushing scarlet as he looked away from Harry and opted for staring just over his shoulder. “I – er. I wasn’t looking where I was going-“

“Thank God!” Harry cried, cutting his friend off. He caught sight of Romilda’s furious face and a sliver of satisfaction rushed through him.

Seamus looked taken aback. “Thank – _what?”_

A crowd was beginning to form around them that was only destined to grow the more they stood there and Harry was beginning to become irritated with Dean’s constant snickering. He grabbed a fistful of Seamus’ robes and titled his neck downwards before kissing him firm on the mouth. 

Seamus made a noise of surprise and Harry mentally marvelled at the softness of his friend’s lips. He pulled away after a second or two, ignoring the gasps of surprise which was followed by a loud chatter of gossip. Harry let go of Seamus’ robes and raised an eyebrow at him. Seamus, who was extremely flustered, looked up at Harry with a dazed expression and his mouth opened and close multiple times without speaking, unable to let words escape. 

“Right,” said Harry and he looked around, noting the narrowed-eyed glare Dean was now giving him, and patted Seamus’ shoulder lightly. “See you later then, Seamus.”

After adjusting the strap of his bag, Harry stepped away from the mistletoe and walked back over to Hermione, who was smirking at him.

“What?” Harry asked her when he joined her.

“Nothing… It just looks like Seamus’ Christmas has come a few weeks early,” she said slyly.

Harry peered over his shoulder at Seamus and saw that his blush had reddened even more than before as he absently touched his mouth. Dean looked significantly grumpier, and Ginny had her arms crossed, shooting an irritated look at Seamus. Harry didn’t need to look at Romilda to see how she was reacting – he could hear her furious mutters from where he was standing.

“Well, what did they expect?” said Harry incredulously whilst they hurried away from the crowd. “Did the reckon I’d just stand there, looking like an idiot because I wouldn’t kiss a guy?”

“Probably,” Hermione reasoned, tucking her hair behind her ears. “You don’t really give off gay vibes, Harry.”

Harry scowled, but not before he glanced up at the ceiling, making sure not to make the same mistake again. “People don’t have to be gay to kiss guys.”

Hermione peered at him briefly, and Harry swore he saw her mouth quirk upwards. “I didn’t say that.”

“Okay,” replied Harry, trying to manoeuvre his thoughts away from the surprisingly pleasant kiss he had just had, and he nodded firmly, more to himself. “Yeah, good,” he added without meaning.

They had reached the Great Hall finally, and Harry was relieved to see the absence of more mistletoe. From beside him, Hermione let slip a giggle.

“What’re you laughing for?” he demanded, slightly insecure. 

Hermione tried to look affronted but failed miserably. A smile crept onto her face. “Nothing! Come on, the table’s quite empty right now and I want to find a seat before… Well, yeah... Oh, look! Neville’s over there – lets go sit with him!” 

She took his hand and pulled him towards the Gryffindor table, where Neville sat, buried in one of his Herbology books. Harry trailed after her, a little absentmindedly as he recalled the look on Seamus’ face after they had kissed.

_‘Seamus is quite attractive, isn’t he?’_ thought Harry.

**Author's Note:**

> hello, hope you all enjoyed this small fic i wrote - it just sort of came to me and didn't take long to write, so i hope it's not too bad. also, there's a few comments i made about ron in this, and i just want to say that i'm in no way trying to bash him. ron's one of my favourite characters, so i hope no one took it negatively :)
> 
> fyi, i'd just like to put it out there that i don't support jkr's transphobic views, and if you do, don't bother reading my works - thanks.


End file.
